Team Chlollie :)

You don't need to be rich to make a difference in the world. ~ Oliver Queen

Title: Back to the Future 5/5 Author: Cking1575Fandom: Smallville AUPairings: Chloe/OliverOver All Rating: NC-17 THERE BE SEX IN THIS FIC!!! BEWARE!! BEWARE!!!Chapter Rating: PGDisclaimer: I do not own Smallville/DC or the characters. I am just playing with them.Summary: A fan fic challenge from Lilmoochie Write a Halloween Chlollie fic.

A/N: To all my wonderful friends here on the web, I am so sorry that it’s taken so long to finish this fic. It was never my intention to keep all my readers hanging for as long as I did…thank you for your patience. Real life kind of got in the way of my Chlollie habit and my writing took a back seat, my muse went on vacation and just returned. :D I hope you all enjoy the conclusion to this fic which was supposed to be a quick short little ficlet and it morphed into a monster of a fic. :D LOL

Thank you all so much for reading. I do hope you enjoy the ending. Comments and Constructive feedback is always appreciated.

”Come on, you owe me a coffee and a LONG conversation.” She grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him after her towards the door. “You don’t mind watching the rug rat do ya, Chlo?” She didn’t even wait for an answer before she pulled Clark to the door.

”Talk to you soon, Clark.” Oliver hollered after them as the others chuckled at poor Clark. Jonny just shook his head at his parents, completely used to their ways and continued to eat his breakfast.

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The walk to the coffee shop just at the corner of the street was silent and awkward. Clark wanted to speak but one look at Lois, who was walking angrily through the crowded sidewalk, he knew it was best to just let her get her coffee and for her to start the conversation. Waiting for her to speak to him was the longest 10 minutes of his life. For a man who couldn’t sweat he swore that he could feel the perspiration begin to bead on his forehead. Once she had her coffee she grabbed his hand, squeezed it reassuringly, and then proceeded to drag him out of the coffee shop.

“Clark,” she said as she turned to him, “this is huge! I mean really GYNORMOUS! You’re the BLUR!” she yelled excitedly and startled the people that were standing next to them at the corner who were also waiting for the walk signal to turn. Clark looked down at her like she had lost her mind and snickered, fully aware that people were staring at them curiously due to her loud outburst.

“Oh Lois, you’re such a kidder.” He chuckled as he prodded her forward across the street and away from prying ears once the walk signal turned white. “Why don’t we take this conversation to a place a little more private? Like my place.” He looked down at her.

“Your place?” She said quizzically, “Smallville, have you lost your brai…” she never finished her sentence because her breath was knocked from her as she found herself traveling at the speed of light to a white frozen tundra. The only sight for miles besides the white of snow was the giant crystal structure.

Lois was in awe of the crystal structure. She felt as though she had been there before. And as she slowly exhaled, she realized that she was standing before Heaven…or rather what she had believed was Heaven on Dark Thursday.

“Clark,” she said breathlessly, “this…” she looked around in astonishment, “you mean…this is YOUR place? THIS?” she pointed to the crystal tower before her. “Wait a minute; I’ve been here before…this is my Heaven. This is where I was when I thought I had died.” She shivered and she wasn’t sure if it were from the cold or from the thought that she had come so close to dying.

“Yeah, this is my place and yes, you have been here before. Let’s get you inside before you freeze to death.” Clark smiled at her as they made their way to his sanctuary, his Fortress of Solitude. As they entered Clark’s ice palace, Lois noticed that the temperature began to rise with each step into the building she felt warmer and warmer.

“Hello, Kal El.” She heard a male voice boom from every crevice around her. It was as if the place were a live and had welcomed him home. “I see you have brought a visitor, Hello Miss Lane, it’s a pleasure to have you visit again.” Lois could almost hear the voice smile at her. She could picture an older man not unlike Mr. Kent greeting her.

“Clark?” She said as she turned to look at him questioning him without having to voice her question.

“Lois, there’s a lot to tell you. I don’t even know where to start.” He looked around trying to think of the best way to tell her that he was the only surviving member of an alien world light years from Earth.

“The beginning is always a good place to start, Smallville.” She looked at him expectantly.

“Well, huh…” he looked away from her and began to rub the back of his neck, a clear sign to Lois that Clark was really struggling with whatever it was he was trying to tell her.

“Clark, just tell me. Whatever it is you can tell me, I promise I’ll understand.”

He smiled sadly at her, knowing that she probably wouldn’t understand, that no one could really understand what he was or has been going through.

“You may want to sit down for this, Lois…it’s going to be a bit of a shock to you. See, I’m not like everyone else…” Lois jumped up out of her seat and began to pace in front of him very much the same way Chloe does when she’s agitated too.

“I know that, Clark,” Lois waved her hands in the air in a dismissing manner, “hello you ARE the BLUR!” She stopped pacing and pointed at him. “I mean if everyone were like you,” she started pacing again, “then there would be no need for you…err the Blur…err you…whatever, you know what I mean….”

“Lois, stop. Sit down and let me finish please.” She turned to look at Clark in shock at his assertiveness, but sat down and remained quiet so that he could finish telling her what he had started to.

“Thank you. Look the reason I’m not like everyone else is because I’m not from around here.”

“Where are you from, Clark, New York? Boston? Washington? I know your parents adopted you already…”

Lois, no. Farther than that.”

“Are you telling me that you weren’t born in the US?” She looked at him.

“Yes, you could say that. I was born far away from the US….”

“OH MY GOD! You’re Russian! That’s why we’re here in this ice palace; we’re in Russia! It’s ok, Clark, I’ve known a few Rusckies in my life time…not all Russians are bad…”

“Lois! Stop, I’m not Russian, not that it would have been a bad thing had I been Russian, but I’m not. I was raised in the US.”

“Phew, thank God…that would have been a hard sell to the General if you had been.”“Lois, this is going to be a secret that you will have to keep from the General. You will have to keep my secret from everyone you love. Can you do that? Can I trust you with the most important secret I have? Can I trust you with my life?”

“Whoa, Smallville, getting a bit melodramatic there.” She giggled.

“Lois, I am serious. I’m not from Russia but if someone were to find out my secret it would be worse.”

“Clark, you’re starting to make me nervous, just tell me already.”

“Fine. Ok. Here goes,” he took a deep breath and paused dramatically, “my name is Kal El. And I am the only surviving member of my planet, Krypton. It was destroyed when I was an infant and my birth parents Lara and Jor El sent me to Earth to be raised by my parents Martha and Jonathan Kent in Smallville.”

The laughter started softly as a giggle but quickly it erupted from her lips.

“You can’t be serious, Clark.” She said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “You are an alien? You are telling me that you are an alien? Did I just hear you right?” she snickered; he had to be pulling her leg.

“Yes, Lois, I am serious. I am an alien, born far away on some distant planet.”

She looked over at him, her laughter dying once she realized he wasn’t joking with her. “Oh, Clark,” her demeanor changed swiftly from joyful to sad, “I know some people who can help you with your delusions…it won’t be so bad once we find the right person to help you and you get the treatment you need.”

“I’m not delusional, Lois.” Clark was starting to get irritated, how was he going to get Lois to understand let alone believe him? His eyes lit up when he realized how he was going to get her to understand…Jor El was going to have to tell her himself. “Lois, come with me.” He motioned to the panel that held all the crystals of knowledge. He searched for one for a moment then he placed it gently into a slot, “hold onto my hand this is going to be a bit dizzying for you.” She quickly walked over to him and just as she grabbed his hand and was going to say something the entire room that they were in went black. Lois felt like she was in an anti-gravity chamber as she began to feel like she were floating. Her grip on Clark’s hand tightened as she tried to keep her balance.

“Clark? What’s going on?” She asked him as she tried to keep her panic at bay.

“Just relax, everything’s ok. I’m right here with you. I just want…no I just NEED you to understand, Lois.”

“Ok, ok I get that but couldn’t we have done that with my feet still planet on terra firma? Clark, I’m sorry I thought you were…”

“Kal El, my son.” Jor El appeared in front of them not exactly how Lois had pictured him in her mind but still his face matched the voice.

“Jor El, this is Lois. You have met before. Please, can you tell her of my origins and how I arrived here on Earth?”

“Of course, my son.” And before her eyes the darkness vanished and she was amidst chaos. Watching but not interacting. “These images that you see, Lois Lane, are of the past…the far distant past. Kal El’s past. You can not stop what is about to happen nor can you interact with the persons that you see. Watch. Absorb this knowledge which Kal El is giving to you so that one day you may help him in the future.”

Around her massive brightly glowing energy columns encircle a lab in which Jor El worked in the center. His hands swiftly glided over portions of a gleaming, silvery object as he placed a crystal inside it which responded to him with throbbing lights. A beautiful tall blond woman entered the lab carrying a baby swaddled in three blankets of' red, blue, and yellow and Lois could tell that she was seeing Clark with his biological mother, even though he had his father’s looks he had inherited his mother’s eyes. It was with her eyes that he was watching her intently. There was a sad look on Clark’s mother’s face as she watched Jor El who turned when he sensed her presence. “That is my mother, my biological mother, Lara.” Clark said to Lois softly.

“She’s beautiful, Clark. You have her eyes.” She said as she continued to watch the events unfold before her.

“Have you ... .finished?” Lara asked her husband.

“Very nearly.” Jor El replied softly.

Lara turned away, and shut her eyes tightly, Lois could almost feel her wishing that she didn’t have to do what she knew she was going to have to do. Jor El walked over to her and enveloped her in his strong arms.

“It's the only answer, Lara.” He said softly, sadly. He too, didn’t want to send his son off into the cold darkness of space, but he knew what would happen if Kal El should remain.” If he remains here he will die,” he paused and made her look at him, “as surely as we will.”

“He will need that advantage to survive. Their atmosphere will sustain him...”

“He will defy their gravity...” She argued.

“He will look like one of them.” Jor El reasoned.

“But he won't be one of them.” She looked down at her son.

“His dense molecular structure will make him strong...” He reassured her. “He’ll be fast. Virtually invulnerable...”

“Isolated. Alone...” She whispered. Jor El looked at her, compassion for her anguish on his face but strength in knowing that what they did was right in his eyes.

“He will not be alone. He will NEVER... be alone. We will always be with him, by his side. He will be loved by us from afar. I have made sure that he WILL know us. I promise you, my love, our son will grow up to be a man we will be proud of. But time is running short, my love, we have to move quickly. We must say our good-byes now and send Kal El on his way.” Lara’s eyes fluttered close as tears spilled from her eye lashes. Lois watched in horror as the bright white light that lit Jor El’s lab turned to a blood red color. She watched the panic in the parents’ eyes and the sadness as they laid tiny Kal El into the ship that would carry him safely to Earth. Tears fell from her own eyes as she watched Lara lean over the edge and kiss her son for the last time and sobs escaped her as she listened to a father’s fare well to his only son.

“You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But I will never leave you. Even in the face of my death the richness of my life shall be yours. All that I have learned, everything I feel, all of this and more I have bequeathed to you, my son. You shall carry me inside you all your days. You will make my strength your own, see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, the father becomes the son. This is all that I can send with you, Kal-El, and not near so rich a gift as that your mother sends along. Her...love.”

A tremor suddenly shook the ground - a thin fissure appeared on the wall of the lab.

The massive energy columns throbbed with red light. The baby had been fastened in the module, wrapped in his blankets. Lara reluctantly stepped back as Jor El secured and sealed all the openings. The module door automatically closed and baby Clark/ baby Kal El was sealed inside.

The room shook in a violent tremor as Jor El tried to get the engines fired. The energy columns flared at feverish pitch. Suddenly a huge tremor dislodged a mass of crystal which crashed down, obliterating the aura.

The tremors continued in the lab. Tons of crystal crash down into the room as Jor El frantically tried to fire the rocket. With a last desperate effort he lunged forward through the tumbling debris and struck the control which ignited the module. With a deafening roar, the rocket started to glide off into the night as the house began to collapse, the energy columns shattered under the strain. The module raced away from the disintegrating planet. Lois and Clark watched helplessly as Jor El and Lara were buried beneath a cascading shower of debris, clinging together desperately in the moment of their death as their child was whisked away to safety. The House collapsed in ruins. The capsule headed out into the intergalactic void as the red sun ate its way into the core of the planet and Krypton suddenly imploded - leaving a vast black void. The module sped through space to the accompaniment of steady electronic pulsing. The child within safe and secure unaware of what had just happened to his parents, to his people, to his planet.

The room was dark once again and silent all but the sobs coming from Lois.

“Clark,” she sobbed as she turned to him, “oh Clark, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She hugged him as the room once again returned to the white of the crystal.

“Shhhh, Lois, I didn’t show you that to make you upset…I just wanted you to know…to believe me. You have to know, Lois, you have to understand.” She looked up at him, tears leaking from her lashes; to him she looked like the most beautiful creature in the universe.

“Why?” She sniffled, “why did you have to show me that? Why is it so important to you that I know your secret, Clark?”

He smiled a little, “Well, I thought you had that figured out, Lois. I thought that you already knew that you were my soul mate. You are the one for me, Lois, you are my one and only. I love you; in some way from the moment we met, I have always loved you.” He chuckled thinking back to all the times he said to anyone who would listen about how he couldn’t stand Lois Lane.

“You do?” She looked up at him with all the innocence of a child at Christmas.

“Yes, I do.” He chuckled as he caught her in mid leap, her legs wrapped around him and her lips connected with his cheek, his neck, his fore head, his nose, any bit of skin she could kiss.

“Well, I am glad that we established this, Lois, I really am, but right now we have to talk about the two little boys back at the Watchtower and how we are going to get them back to their own time.”

That statement was like a bucket of ice water being thrown onto her. Her son, they’re son was sitting back at Chloe’s waiting for his mother and father to return and save the day and here she was just wasting precious time. Her son and nephew needed her and she wasn’t going to let them down.

“Oh My God, Clark, we have a son.” She stilled in his arms.

“Yes, we do, but not for a while yet. Jonny and Connor are from the future and if we can’t figure out a way for them to return their lives could be in jeopardy.”

“How in the world did they get here anyway? How did they manage to get from their time to our time?”

“Ahhh, that would be my fault…” he stopped talking when he received a glare from the woman who seconds before had been showering him with kisses and love proclamations.

“What did you do, Smallville?”

“Ahhh, nothing. I didn’t do it really, you see, the boys got a hold of a ring.”

“A ring?”

“Yes, a ring. A very special ring. One that was given to me by a friend who travelled from another time…the future, and well, left me the ring should I ever need to travel to the future for help.”

“Clark, let me get this straight, you left the ring, that can travel through time, just lying out where our son, who I am sure has the adventurous nature of his mother and our nephew who has the curiosity of his mother, to find? Are you CRAZY!?” She yelled at him.

“I am sure that I wouldn’t have done something like that, Lois.”

“Really? Then how did those two boys end up here in our time?”

“Ya, that I am not too sure about.”

“Come on let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“Well, back to Metropolis, Smallville, I want to spend some time with my son before we send him back to the future.”

Just as they were about to leave the palace of ice a blinding flash erupted in the crystal chamber. Fearing for Lois’s safety Clark grabbed her and spun her around so that his body was shielding her from the threat. Once his eyes readjusted he was pleasantly surprised to see Rokk standing in front of him.

“Rokk? What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, Kal, your ring has been used by an unauthorized person.”

“Yes, I know. That person or should I say persons are my future son and future nephew. Somehow they stumbled a crossed the ring in their time and managed to end up in our time. Wait. How did you know about the ring being used?”

“Ahhh, so this is when Conner and Jonny first did their time jumping. They are quite the duo those two and quite the trouble makers too. They mean well but somehow they always manage to end up in trouble.” Rokk chuckled. “You and Oliver are definitely going to have your hands full with those two.”

“I can tell. But all in all they seem like good kids.”

“Oh they are. They’re the best in the Legion…it’s just that they seem to find more trouble than all the others is what I am trying to say. You will be quite proud of both of them. But as of right now we need to get them back to their time.”

“Ya, you were just going to tell us about that ring that you gave to Smallville here.” Lois piped up. “Not that the reunion isn’t fascinating but there are two little boys in Metropolis who are definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Hello, Lois, you are just as brazen as the history books say you are, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind, the most important matter at hand right now is getting Connor and Jonny back to their time…which isn’t all that difficult, Kal.”

“But Rokk, how did you know about the boys and the ring?”

“The Legion ring is not only a time traveling device but it’s also a beacon. Once the ring has been activated by someone other than its owner, the ring sets off a beacon that alerts members of the Legion that the ring that belongs to say you, for instance, Kal, is in use. Each member of the Legion has his/her own ring...the ring that Kal has is his ring and only his ring. So when someone who isn’t Kal uses his ring a beacon is sent to the other members of the Legion alerting them of the deed. It’s away for us to always know who and what are using the rings. That is how I knew to track the ring to this point in time as well as to who’s ring it was.”

“So, that explains how you know about the ring, but how do we send the boys back to their time?”

“Kal, they have to put the ring back on after I program it for the specific moment in their time.”

“But will it take them both back to their time?”

“So long as they stay physically connected they will both go back to the moment that they left no worse for wear and having an adventure to tell all the other super hero kids about.”

“Other super hero kids?” Clark exclaimed.

“Oh come on, you didn’t think you and Oliver were the only ones who procreated, did you? Granted, Connor was the first, but the first in a long line.”

“Really? Who else has kids? AC? Vic? Don’t tell me that Bart has a kid…he’s way too young…”

“Kal, now is not the time. Bart will have children, in a few years when he’s ready as for the others….well, lets just say that they have their own adventures to go find first. That’s all I can say on that. Where are Connor and Jonny now?”

“They’re at the Watchtower with Oliver, Chloe, and the other guys.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you there and we can go over what needs to be done.”

“Ok, Rokk. We’ll see you there. Let’s go, Lois. I would like to spend some time with our boy before he has to return.”

“Ya, me too, Smallville. Let’s go.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Back at the Watchtower~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Clark and Lois arrived at the Watchtower the place had looked like a bomb had gone off inside. Tables had been over turned, chairs laid on their sides, the couch in front of the TV had been pushed onto the flat of its back. Clark and Lois could hear the hushed giggles of the two little boys as well as the ‘shushes’ of their “uncles” Clark looked over at Lois and smiled just before they were ambushed with pillows by Jonny, Connor, Bart, AC, and even Vic had joined in. Oliver and Chloe stood off to the side at one of the computers chuckling at the scene before them. It had been a long time since Chloe had seen Clark act the way he was…having fun. Clark snatched one of the pillows right out of AC’s hands and began to defend him and Lois.

“HEY!” AC yelled just before he was wacked in the face with Oliver’s pillow. No pillow was safe from this crowd. All the pillows in the Watchtower had been rounded up…throw pillows, sleeping pillows, decorative pillows, couch pillows, you name it…all the pillows were thrown into a huge pile in the middle of the floor and each person got to choose which pillow he wanted. Chloe and Oliver had opted to do some research on time traveling while the guys played. But they did more watching them have fun than researching. They all saw Clark and Lois entering the building on the monitor and they had all decided to ambush them. Watching them scramble for hiding places had almost been Oliver and Chloe’s undoing. They had to hold their hands over their mouths to keep the laughter inside.

Lois looked over at Clark just before Jonny smacked her with the pillow to the face.

“Why you little munchkin!” Lois called after Jonny as she chased the little boy around the room. He was a fast little kid but not fast enough. Lois caught him and scooped him into her arms. Jonny screamed at the top of his lungs at being lifted off his feet in mid run but the squeals of his giggles is what stopped everyone. Lois had the little boy wrapped in her arms tightly tickling him until he could barely catch his breath. Chloe thought that Lois was laughing as much as Jonny was. It was really good to see Lois adapt so quickly. Lois was going to make a great mother someday. When Chloe thought about that she placed her hand on her belly wondering if her someday was going to be coming sooner than later. Oliver noticed her hand move and he placed his hand over hers. He was just as nervous and as excited as she was, she could read it in his eyes. They shared a smile before they were interrupted by a buzz from the door alerting them to someone waiting to be left in.

“Rokk?” Chloe said as she looked at the person on the monitor. “What’s he doing here?” She asked aloud and turned to Clark who was being pummeled with pillows by the band of heroes he called friends.

“Rokk? Oh he’s here already?” He looked sadly at Lois who had stopped ticking Jonny but still held him close to her breast.

“Not yet, Clark.” She said to him sadly.

“Lois, it’s time, the longer they stay the more danger they are in.”

“But Smallville…” She said sadly.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Chloe said to Clark.

“Well, we found out how to send the boys back to their own time.” Clark said to everyone. Everyone stilled and their sadness could be felt throughout the room. The boys had to be returned they all knew that, but they had all grown attached to them. The sullen silence had been interrupted by another buzz. Chloe pressed the button that allowed Rokk into the Watchtower as Clark and the guys began to set the room back to order. Connor walked sadly over to Chloe and wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew what was going to happen. He and Jonny were being sent away because they had done something bad and that guy that buzzed to be let in was the one who was going to take them.

“Please don’t let him take us, Momma.” Connor looked up at Chloe with his big green eyes welling with tears, “I promise, I promise with all my heart that I won’t be bad again. I will listen. Please, Mommy, please don’t let him take us.” He begged her. Chloe’s heart shattered into a million pieces as did everyone’s heart. He just couldn’t understand that he needed to go back to his own time. He needed to return to the future, that it just wasn’t safe for him to remain here.

“Oh Connor,” her voice broke, “this man knows how to send you back to your own time, hunny. He’s not taking you from us, baby, he’s going to be returning you to us. Do you understand? He’s going to send you back to the mommy and daddy that you remember, that love and miss you. Not that we’re not going to miss you, baby, but I KNOW that the mommy that is in the future is scared and worried about you. Connor it’s time to go home.”

“NO!” He cried and held onto Chloe tighter. Chloe’s composure began to break and she looked to Oliver for help. He knelt down to Connor’s level before he began to speak.

“Connor, look at me, please.” Oliver’s heart broke when his son looked at him with his reddened green eyes, tears still leaked from the corners of his eye lids as Connor tried to control his breathing.

“Daddy? Why? Why can’t we stay here with you? Why are you sending us away? Don’t you love us anymore? Were we bad? I promise we’ll be good, right Jonny? Won’t we.” Connor looked over at Jonny who also was crying in the arms of his mother.

“Connor, it’s not that we don’t love you, son, it’s because we love you that we have to send you back to your time. Please understand, Connor, we’re sending you home.” Oliver’s voice was thick with emotion that he had only experienced once before in his life. Just as he finished saying that the door opened up to reveal Rokk with a puzzled expression his face.

“Why so sad, everyone?” He asked.

“Well, we’ve all kind of got attached to these kids and we don’t want to see them leave, DUH.” Vic said to Rokk.

“Well hello to you too, Cyborg.” Vic gave Rokk a strange look.

“I know that most of you are not familiar with who I am. Let me introduce myself, I’m Rokk Krinn, also known as Cosmic Boy. I am a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 31st century. I have returned to this time and place because the Legion ring that I had left for Kal had been used by these two boys to jump to your time. I am here to return them safely to their own time.”

“Well, what if the little guys don’t want to go back? What if they want to stay here in this time? What if we want them to stay here with us? What are you going to do about it?” Bart said to the young man who wanted to take the two boys that he had grown fond of away.

“Listen, I must warn you that the time for them to return safely is running out. We do not have the time to argue over whether or not they will return to their own time. We must return them shortly otherwise the door in the portal that was opened will close and they will forever be stuck in this time with no means to be returned to the parents who will be forever changed in a negative way should they not be returned. Look, by them staying in this time will alter not only your time, but theirs as well. They have a path, a destiny to fulfill in their own time. If they remain here then the future that I know will no longer exist. The heroes that they become, the lives that they save will forever be altered. Don’t you understand it is imperative that they be returned immediately?”

Clark and Oliver looked at one another, eyes locked in a conversation that no one else was privy to. With a shake of his head in the affirmative, Oliver stood and removed Connor’s arms from Chloe’s waist and picked up the small nearly hysterical boy. AC, Vic, and Bart walked over to Chloe who was doing all she could to hold herself still and not chase after Oliver as he carried Connor over to Rokk. Clark did the same thing to Jonny. Lois walked slowly over to Chloe and they held each other as they watched Rokk gather the boys to him.

“The ring?” Rokk looked at Clark. Oliver turned to Chloe and with a deep breath walk slowly back to her. She held the ring still covered in the tissue out to Oliver. Oliver took the ring from her hand with a reassuring squeeze before he walked it over to Rokk.

“Do not worry, you will see them again.” Rokk tried to reassure all the saddened heroes in the room.

“Daddy?” Connor cried as he broke out of Rokk’s grasp and ran right into Oliver’s arms. Jonny wailed as well for Clark and Clark took the little boy from Rokk and held him tightly.

“We will see each other very soon, my son. You will close your eyes and when you open them I will be there waiting for you. Never forget that I love you, no matter what, never forget that.” Clark squeezed him a little and then handed him over to Rokk.

“Connor, just like what Uncle Clark just said to Jonny. This trip you take with Rokk is important and Mommy and I will be waiting at the other end. We love you, Connor and I am sure that the parents you left in your time love you as much if not more than we do. It’s time to return to them, Connor, it’s time. I love you, my boy.” Oliver hugged Connor to him and with a sorrowfull sigh he handed the boy over to Rokk. “Take care of my boy, Rokk, or no matter what time or place, I will hunt you down.” Oliver said to the young man.

“I promise, Oliver…Kal, your sons will be back in your arms momentarily.” And with those words and a blinding flash of light, the two little boys who had arrived last night were returned back to the future.

Oliver and Clark made their way out to Clark’s barn. The two men were still saddened to have seen their sons sent back to the future. They each knew that they would see the boys again soon but still their hearts ached to hear their laughter, to see their bright ecstatic faces. They had only known the boys for a day, yet it had felt like they had known them for a life time. Both Oliver and Clark had no idea how they were going to go on with their lives. Were they supposed to just carry on like before the boys came…or maybe that was why they jumped through time and space to begin with, maybe they were sent to the present by the powers that be to kick them onto the right path to their destinies?

Oliver and Clark silently ascended the stairs that lead them into Clark’s loft. They both walked over to Clark’s desk. Clark’s blue eyes looked at Oliver, uncertainty written clearly in them for him to read.

“Do it, Clark.” Oliver said.

“But what if…”

“No. You know as well as I do that if the boys don’t find that ring and go back into the past then they will never exist. Chloe and I wouldn’t be together and you and Lois wouldn’t be together. The boys are the catalyst that creates their future. Without them finding this ring, then they will never be and I don’t know about you Clark but I want that future. We have to ensure that they travel back in time in the future. That ring is the key.”

”You’re right.” Clark admitted as he pulled out the desk drawer and pulled the back of the drawer off then carefully slid the draw onto the rails and put the back of the draw back into place. Oliver smiled.

“Of course I am, I’m always right.” Oliver chuckled and Clark smiled as he placed the ring into the far corner of his desk drawer. He would have to be very careful about how he opened that drawer. He still wasn’t at all comfortable with the idea of just leaving that ring where anyone could find it and put it on…but as the last few days showed, it was only the people who needed to use the ring that put it on.

”Come on, Boy Scout, I’ll treat you to a cup of coffee.” Oliver clapped his hand on Clark’s back as they began their trek back to Clark’s house where Chloe and Lois and the rest of the gang waited for them to return.

”You know,” Clark turned to look at Oliver, his face serious once again, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that code name…you do realize that I was never actually in the boy scouts, right?”

“You weren’t?” Oliver asked genuinely surprised by that statement.

”Nope. Never.” Clark smiled at him.

”Hmmm, well I just assumed, you know, because if anyone had ever graduated from Boy Scouts 101, I would have bet my last dime that it was you.”

”Ha, guess you’re glad that you wouldn’t have to make that bet then, huh?” They chuckled and Oliver waited for Clark to finish his thought. “Anyway, I was thinking that maybe it’s time to change the code name? Jonny and Connor both said that I was called something else in the future.” Oliver turned to look at Clark and smirked.

”You want your new code name to be…” He started to laugh then cleared his throat trying very hard to get his game face back, he settled for smirking at his friend, “Ok, all kidding aside, you really want to be called Superman? A little presumptuous of you, isn’t?” Clark blushed a bit.

”It’s not what I want to be called; it’s what the boys said I was going to be called. We’ve already messed with their timeline enough.”

”They also said that you can fly, can you do that?”

“Ahh, no…not yet, but I am sure that I will soon.”

”Well, then, how about until you can fly we keep your code name as Boy Scout…but the minute you start flying, we’ll change it then to Superman.” He chuckled, “Damn it, Clark, I really can’t say that without laughing, sorry.”

They were still laughing together as they entered the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Clark,” Oliver said his fear for his son coloring his voice.

”Oliver, they’re fine…don’t you remember. It really wasn’t all that long ago that they visited us in the past. They’ll be back soon.”

”But what if we were wrong. What if…”

”Ollie, listen, if we were wrong back then…then we wouldn’t even remember them now. Don’t you remember what Rokk told us when he returned the ring to me after he returned the boys? Their time travel is pivotal to their future. They went back; they will be brought back to us here in this time.” Just as he was saying that a blinding flash of white light erupted in front of them. And when they opened their eyes there stood Connor, Jonny, and Rokk.

”Hello, Kal, Oliver, are you guys missing something?” Rokk smiled at Clark and Oliver. Connor and Jonny ran to their respective fathers and jumped into their arms.

“We’re sorry, Daddy!” Connor said as he squeezed Oliver as tightly as he could.

”Yeah, we sorry, Daddy! I promise we won’t play up here no more. Please don’t be mad. I love you!” Jonny hugged Clark as tightly as he could and peppered his cheeks with kisses. Rokk stood back and watched the scene before him, extremely happy watching the reunion.

“Well, Kal, it’s time for me to head back to. Take care of these kids, ok? They have a bright future before them. And you two, no more time traveling ok?” He chuckled as they looked at each other before answering.

”OK! Rokk!! Safe traveling!” The boys said together as though they had rehearsed it. Rokk smiled and then vanished in a bright light.

”WOW! Connor, did you see that? Is that how we traveled?”

“Yeah! I guess soo! Daddy, has Mommy had Bella yet?”

“Oliver looked down as his son and smiled. “Nope, not yet, she’s still in Mommy’s belly.”

”Phew! I thought I missed it.”

“Nope, squirt, but she’s in the house waiting for you with Aunty Lo, Uncle Vic, Uncle AC, Uncle Bart, and Gramma. You ready to go in?”

”Yeah!”

“How about you, Jonny, are you ready to see your Mommy and Aunty Chlo, all your uncles,and Gramma?”

“YEAH!!!” Clark and Oliver smiled at one another and then carried their sons into the house where the women in their lives waited.

Let me take your portrait

A Published Poem by Christine King

Let me paint your picture, With the lens of my camera. Let me stop time, Even if only for a moment, Capturing your beauty with my shutter. Let me see your soul Through this view finder of mine. Let me caress your body with my eyes. Let me see you… The real you; Not the image you project. You… vulnerable naked unmasked, Show me who you are. Let me take your portrait.

I hope that this New Year of 2010 is treating you all well. I am so sorry that I have been MIA for a while and will probably be for a bit longer. But I hope that you will let me explain why.

So far this year hasn’t been off to a great start, well at least for me it hasn’t, I can only hope that it gets better as the year progresses.

Anyway, as most of you already know, I am a single mom with a 12 year old daughter. We have just recently moved, and by recent I mean 2 years ago, from Boston, MA to Indiana to live with my parents, who made the move to Indy a year before we did.“What prompted the move out west,” you ask. Well, that is a very LONG story that is better left for a later date. Anyhoo, we moved in with my parents 2 years ago, which was supposed to be temporary but has somehow become permanent. (Another long story best left for another time.) But what you need to know is that my daughter’s father still lives in Boston and was awarded visitation/parenting time with my daughter so for every major holiday i.e. Christmas, I have to drag my daughter back up to MA so that she can spend the holiday with her father, which by the way neither my daughter or I are thrilled about. This is a very difficult time for me, not only do I not get to spend the holiday with her, but I have to take my daughter back to stay with her father, a man that I dislike immensely. Needless to say, the holidays have taken a very depressing turn for me. But I also spend the holidays with my best friend and her family and I write. I write and I write and I write.

So on December 22, 2009, my daughter and I were scheduled to fly out of Indianapolis Airport and due to arrive in Boston at 11pm that night where we would stay for a week and depart on December 29th. Everything was going better than any other trip we’ve taken back to MA. Both my daughter and I were completely packed and ready to go a WHOLE day before we were leaving. I had made arrangements to get us to the airport on time and we were all set to take a shuttle from Logan airport when we arrived. I was happy that everything was going according to plan. It was about 10:30pm the night before we were going to leave. I looked around my house to make sure that everything was set for the next day, you know that one last look around trying to figure out what you are forgetting to pack look. But when I came up with nothing else to do, I sighed in relief. Now it was my time to relax and get to read my Chlollie! Yay for me! I sent my daughter up to bed and I had a nice hot cup of chocolate. The house was quiet…and for my house that’s something. I took my laptop out of the bag and plugged it into the wall, my battery is dying and I can only run my laptop while it’s plugged in. (I had every intention of getting a new battery after I pay off my holiday bills.) Anyway, I placed my hot chocolate on the table beside the recliner, reclined my legs and got comfy, put my laptop onto my lap and was getting ready to read those Chlollie Role Plays that I am soo addicted to when my daughter called to me from upstairs. So, being the awesome mom that I am, I put my Chlollie Role Plays on hold, put my un sipped hot chocolate back onto the side table, un reclined my legs, and trudged my wary bones upstairs to my daughter’s room just to get her a glass of water and to listen to her complain about having to go back to MA and to spend the holiday with her father. After about an hour of listening to her complain about the trip, rubbing her back, and desperately wanting to get back to reading my Chlollie Role Plays, she finally fell asleep. So down the stairs I went, grabbed my now cold chocolate and went out to the kitchen and zapped it in the microwave to reheat it, and back to the living room that was only lit up by the lights from our Christmas tree. The stillness of the room was a blessing. I once again returned my hot chocolate to the side table, sat down in my recliner and reclined my legs, grabbed my laptop and placed it once again onto my lap and began to read that Chlollie goodness that I’ve been dying to read all day.

As I waited for Live Journal to load on my screen, I reached for my hot chocolate to finally take that sip that I had been craving when my dogs began to bark and the back door opened to reveal my dad. He had been over at my Uncle’s house watching a football game. I sighed, there went my peace and quiet, and I lowered my still unsipped hot chocolate and placed it on the table so that I could make small talk with my dad before he went to bed. I love my dad, but he loves to talk. He can spend an hour talking about the weather and all I wanted to do was read my Chlollie RP and drink my now luke warm chocolate. I chatted with my dad for about an hour before he headed into his room to read. When I looked back at my laptop the screen was black. I had assumed that it was in sleep mode because I had taken so long, so I ran my finger across the finger pad fully expecting for my laptop to blink back to life…but it didn’t. I thought that was strange. It never took more than me running my finger over the finger pad to wake it back up so I hit the Enter button and nothing happened. At this point the fact that my screen is still back is not really bothering me, I just figured that for some reason my computer shut itself down, no big deal right? Yeah, wrong. I pressed the power button and the fans turned on, the light on the power button lit up, and the screen started to lit up and then…BAM nothing. Everything shut off again. No light on the power button, no fans cooling the computer, nothing on the screen. S.H.I.T! What did that mean? So what did I do, what any normal person would do…I kept pressing the power button and swearing every time that my laptop wouldn’t power up. This prompted my dad to come out of his room.

He found me pacing in front of my laptop, swearing like a sailor, threatening my laptop as if it were alive and could understand me… that if it didn’t turn on that it was in mortal peril. To say that I was quite upset was a beyond ridiculous. I was almost hysterical with panic. My stories, my photos…all were backed up on disks except the ones that I had just finished for Lilmoochie’s Christmas fic Challenge. I was going to post them on Christmas Eve and the only copies of those stories were on the hard drive that now wouldn’t power on. Really it wouldn’t have been such a big deal if I hadn’t been traveling the next day. I would have just taken my laptop to my computer tech guy and he would have fixed the problem and I still would have been able to post my fics on time…my only problem was, I was leaving on a plane the next day and wouldn’t be able to see my tech guy until after the New Year. That would mean that my fics would be stuck on my laptop until then. Shit. Shit. Shit. I just wanted to sit down on the floor and cry. My heart was racing, tears were welling, and my breathing became ragged. I sat down on the floor in front of my lap top…which was resting comfortably in my recliner, next to my once again cold chocolate.“What is wrong with this stupid thing!?” I asked to myself, not even aware that my father was watching me.

“What’s going on?” He asked me. I jumped up off the floor and turned to him. Angrily I pointed at my computer and with barely contained tears in my eyes like a 3 year old before a tantrum I yelled my answer at him.

“That DAMN computer won’t turn on! I have NO IDEA WHY! My stories are on that thing and I can’t get them. THEY’RE GONE! I HATE THAT THING! I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT!” Each “I hate it!” was punctuated by a foot stomp.

My dad, seeing how serious a situation it was didn’t help it any by laughing at my behavior. Nope, that just darkened my mood and gave me a live target for my anger. I growled and if I were Superman my dad and my laptop would both have been fried. But alas, I am just human. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my voice before I spoke to him.

“You think this is funny?” I asked him shocked that he could be so amused by my distress, “I leave for Boston in the morning and when I come back it is New Years. My tech guy is going to be closed so I will have no one to check out my computer until AFTER the holidays. That means that I have to go without my laptop for 2 weeks.That’s NOT going to be possible. I will never survive that. And you find humor in this. You’re my dad. You are supposed to sympathize with me and fix this, not laugh at me. Thanks.” I said to him which caused him to laugh harder. My dad’s favorite past time is to tease me and to find humor in my frustration. But his laughing was contagious and I started to laugh at the situation too. Only to me would this happen. That is my luck. But my dad took pity on my plight and stopped laughing.

“Calm down,” he said to me. “Let me take a look at it. Bring it out to the kitchen table,” which was always his makeshift work station, to me my dad is like MacGyver, he could fix anything, “and I’ll see what I can do.” I instantly calmed down, walked over to the Evil machine that was holding my stories hostage, unplugged it from the wall, and ricocheted backwards as I began to walk it out to the kitchen. That was when I noticed that the power cord was stuck in my recliner.

“Holy Shit!” I exclaimed. My dad turned around quickly and I handed him my laptop to hold while I got the cord out of the recliner. Somehow my power cord had gotten stuck in the metal elbow ‘thingy’ that holds the legs and feet up. Once I released the power cord from the metal I pulled it out quickly and noticed that it was crimped really badly. “SHIT!” Now I knew why my computer wouldn’t power up. There was no power going to it. The outer casing of the cord had been cut through but the inner part of the cord looked fine. I straightened the cord to the best of my ability and my dad went to get some electrical tape. I just needed my laptop to work through the holidays. Then once I got back I would buy a new power cord and battery and I’d be ok again. I just needed to back up my Christmas fics and then if my computer crashed I wouldn’t have to worry. So, for about 15 minutes I smoothed the cord out. My dad wrapped the electrical tape around it and I plugged it back into the wall. I waited one second, held my breath, looked at my dad, and pressed the power button. The power light lit up, the fans turned on, the Windows logo popped onto the screen and I released my breath. My laptop was working again! Now, the smart thing to have done was to back up my Christmas fics as soon as the computer finished booting up. Yeah, I never said that I was smart. By the time I got my laptop working again, it was really late.I thanked my dad profusely for helping me and forgave him for laughing at my misfortune and sat down to read my Role Plays. I only got to read through one before I was soo exhausted that I ended up shutting my computer down. I wrapped the power cord up and packed my laptop into my laptop travel backpack. In my mind my laptop was ok. It was fixed enough to last me until I got back from my trip.

The next day was chaotic, you wouldn’t think so because I was all organized the night before but of course we forgot to pack things and blah…blah…blah, all that last minute stuff. I forgot to mention that it is a 2 hour drive to the airport from my house and my cousin wanted to leave a little early because he wasn’t sure about the directions to the airport…we ended up at the airport almost 3 hours before our flight. My daughter and I had a long wait ahead of us, but I was prepared, I packed her hand held video games, her laptop which doubles as a DVD player and DVDs. I had my laptop and notebooks, pens, and a romance novel. I was good for a while. But when we arrived and checked in we were told that our gate number had changed. No big deal, it was right next to the gate that we were at. So we picked up our bags and moved. About a half hour later, it was announced that our gate had been changed again…back to the original gate that we were at. Again, no big deal we picked up our bags and moved again. We did the gate change dance about three more times. My daughter was getting hungry so I went and got dinner…McDonald’s…I thought was going to be cheap but Holy Crap! It cost me $20 just for 2 meals. That was a rip off and the food sucked. But when I got back with the food and we started to eat we heard over the loud speaker that our flight was going to be delayed an hour. WTF! Now, I was getting aggravated. And I was chatting with some of the other passengers who were going to be flying with me to Boston…all who were US Army soldiers who had been surprised with holiday leave for 2 weeks. I have to tell you that I just felt 10 times safer knowing that the whole squad was flying with me. But just as I started to relax and have fun with the ‘Army guys’ as we started to call them, another announcement was made…the connecting flight in Washington DC that we were all supposed to fly on broke down and that flight was cancelled. Again, WTF came to mind. But this time it wasn’t for me. It was for the ‘Army guys’. They had a limited amount of time to travel and get home to spend the holidays with their families. My daughter and I could always just change our flight and go the next day. I just felt so bad for them. So I left my daughter sitting with the ‘Army guys’ and headed for the counter in full on pissed off momma bear don’t you mess with my cub mode. I was going to get those boys to their families. Well, I have to tell you that the guy that I spoke to at the counter was just the NICEST guy ever. He was already searching for flights to get the ‘Army guys’ onto when I got to the counter. And he succeeded; he also succeeded in squeezing my daughter and me onto the same flight. We would end up laid over in Philadelphia instead of DC but no big deal to me. The only problem I had was that the shuttle that I was scheduled to take from the airport to the place where my friend was going to pick us up at stopped running an hour before we landed…which meant that my friend…who has a phobia about driving in Boston, was going to have to drive into downtown Boston and pick us up at the airport after 12 am. That went over like a lead balloon. She was hysterical by the time we departed the plane in Boston. I thought that she was going to hyperventilate. We didn’t get my daughter to her father’s house which is almost an hour north of Boston until 2 am. Yes, I forgot to mention that during my friend’s hysteria she forgot where she parked in the parking garage and we wandered around the cold dark garage looking for her car for almost an hour. Yeah, great way to start the holiday but wait it has only just begun. Be thankful that you aren’t me.

So, now it is early morning on December 23rd my friend and I get back to her house and chat. By the time we get to bed it’s almost 4am. She took the day off of work to spend with me so we got up late and went to breakfast and just had a grand ole time of just hanging out without any kids. She has a 17yr old and a 7 yr old…they were both at school. Anyway, we had a blast just hanging out, but we were busy and I hadn’t pulled out my laptop to post the fics. Later that night long after everyone had gone to bed I pull out my laptop and plug it in. I do take notice that the indicator light is on telling me that the battery is ‘charging’ but at least I know that the power cord is working. I go to sleep.

December 24th, Christmas Eve day.

I babysat my ‘niece’ Melissa, my friend’s 7 yr old who I consider my niece, while my friend is at work. We have an awesome time together; I really have missed spending time with her. She was soo excited about Christmas it made me both happy and sad…happy to spend the holiday with her but sad that I was missing the holiday with my own daughter. The whole day Mel had mapped out for us. It was too cold outside to go outside and play in the snow so we hung out inside and played board games and card games. We drew pictures and wrapped Christmas presents. But way too soon our fun came to an end and she too had to leave and go with her father for the evening. It was ok because she was coming back but that left the adults. Missy, her boyfriend, and me…Colleen was on the computer…and I thought I was addicted to the internet. She was on the computer all day, leaving it only to go to the bathroom and get something to eat, and then bam back on.

So, Michael, Missy’s boyfriend left to go over to his sister’s house for his annual family Christmas Eve party where he learned his niece had just been rushed to the hospital for something. No one was telling him anything. I learned that my Uncle Danny was rushed to the hospital the day I flew into Boston, the only thing that the doctors knew was that his liver wasn’t working properly and that he was jaundice. My cousin’s husband had also been rushed to the hospital on that same day because he had fallen and lacerated his spleen…which eventually had to be removed. My Uncle Danny had decided that he didn’t care how sick he was that he wasn’t going to spend Christmas in the hospital so he signed himself out and went home on Christmas Eve.So, this Christmas combined we had three loved ones in and out of the hospital, but at least all were recovering. Mel finally came home around 6:30 and was in a complete tizzy about Santa coming. It was so adorable! I pulled out my laptop and went onto the NORAD site and tracked Santa. She flew upstairs when she saw that he was flying towards the US, there was no way that Santa was going to catch her awake and take the presents back.

So, once Melissa was safely tucked into bed Missy pulled out the Christmas presents that needed to be wrapped and we flew through wrapping them. We make a great team, Missy and I do. Anyway, once the presents were wrapped I jumped onto my computer and pulled up the Christmas fics. I was so proud of how they came out, but one still needed to be proofed and the other I couldn’t come up with a title for. I was really stuck. So, I handed over my computer to Missy and she read the fic. She was trying to help me come up with a title when all of a sudden a warning came up on my screen saying that I had 7 minutes of battery life left that I needed to save whatever I was working on blah…blah…blah. Well, panic mode set in. WTF! Why was this happening again? I fixed that damn cord didn’t I? Well, obviously I hadn’t because the warning started flashing quicker and quicker and I hadn’t backed up my fic yet. OH CRAP! Now how was I going to post my fics? So, as quickly as I could, I got a disk out and I saved my fics to that disk. But my computer died as I was saving them so I wasn’t sure if they got saved or not. Then another problem arose…my back up disk was stuck inside my laptop. How was I going to get it out? It literally took me 2 days to get the damn disk out of my laptop. Anyway, I was once again in barely contained tears. My poor friend didn’t know what to do for me…there wasn’t a thing that she could have done to help me out. What had happened to my computer was my own damned fault…but at least I knew how to temporarily fix it, right? I just needed a bit of electrical tape, which unfortunately for me, she didn’t have any so I was either going to have to wait until the 26th and brave the stores or try to salvage the electrical tape from my cord and reuse it. I chose to reuse the electrical tape.

Very carefully (or so I thought), I peeled the tape from the cord. What I didn’t realize was that no matter how carefully I peeled the tape the exposed wire underneath it was going to stick to the adhesive and come out of the wire. Yup, the wire was completely unusable by the time I was through peeling the electrical tape off. CRRAAPP!!! So, I did the best I could and rewrapped the cord and I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to post my fics until I got back to Indy and got a new power cord. It was ok. I could sneak on to Missy’s computer once Colleen went to bed and do what I had to do. But I needed to get my disk out of my laptop which I did after 2 days of trying to get enough power from the battery just to open the DVD door. In the mean time, I had snuck onto Missy’s computer and found a cord on Amazon that matched my laptop for cheap money and bought it. YAY! I just had to wait until I got back to Indy to get. I had it mailed to my home instead of to my friend’s because I was afraid it would have taken forever. So I was once again happy. And my friends kept me pretty busy; Missy’s boyfriend Michael got her the Wii and the Wii Fitness board. OMG, that Wii Fitness is sooooooooo freaking fun. I am so getting it for myself. So, Melissa leaves in the afternoon to spend the night with her father and for the rest of Christmas Day Michael and Missy and I competed on the Wii fitness.

So, even though my cord was damaged beyond repair for the moment, everything was still ok. I would post the fics once I could and even though they may be posted after Christmas everyone would understand once I told them what happened. Well, I did managed to get the disk out of my laptop and on December 26th, I was able to post one of my fics…however, the 2nd fic that I had been desperate to save…didn’t save to the disk and was still stuck on my laptop. No problem at least it was on the laptop and I could get to it after I got the cord. So, I stopped worrying and for almost a whole week I wasn’t on the internet. That in itself is something. LOL.

December 26th

Though I managed to get my disk from my laptop and post one of my Christmas fics, I received horrible news from my family. My Uncle Danny was once again in the hospital his liver and now his kidneys were failing. The doctors had him ICU. I also heard that my cousin’s husband was rushed into surgery that same day…in the same hospital as my Uncle. They had tried to save his spleen but it ruptured and the doctors had to remove it. It was a pretty hairy situation and my cousin was beside herself. She has two little girls both were sick with the flu at the time too. Michael’s niece was recovering at least but was still in the hospital as well, and from what the doctors told her parents, she was going to be in the hospital for a while. But at least she was going to recover and be ok. My Uncle was declining in health and the doctors had no idea why.

December 27th.

I had set up a command location for information for my family back in Indy to find out how my Uncle and my Cousin’s husband were doing. It was getting tense for my Uncle but my cousin’s husband was recovering nicely.

December 28th

I was babysitting my niece again while Missy was at work. And we were supposed to get snow storm that day which turned into just a few flurries. But it was once again too cold to go outside and play in the snow so Mel and I stayed in. This time she wasn’t too happy about staying in but we played on the Wii most of the day. I was getting excited because my daughter and I were flying home the next day. I was worried about my Uncle but he was young so I just figured that he’d be fixed in a couple of days and he would be fine. I never did get over to see him while I was in MA, but I was in constant contact with my cousins, his son and daughter, and I was also in contact with his wife. I was getting hourly updates and one hour he was doing better and then a few hours later he was not doing well again. It was a constant roller coaster. But I made arrangements with my ex for a ride to the airport the next day. He and his fiancé were going to drive my daughter and me into the airport.

December 29th

My daughter and I are returning to Indiana and I can’t wait. The only downside to the day is that my ex and his fiancé were driving us to the airport and I had never met his fiancé before. I wasn’t looking forward to the meeting. But when they pulled up to my friend’s house everything went smoothly. My ex and I were actually civil to each other and I was just so happy to be with my daughter again, I really didn’t care that I was meeting his fiancé. I got into the car and there sitting in the front seat was the other woman, she looked so nervous. I couldn’t believe that she was nervous about meeting me. What in the world did he tell her about me to make her look so scared? I am a really nice person; at least I hope I am. I, in no way, wanted to be the reason for her discomfort, so I put on a smile and shook her hand and wished her a Merry Christmas and tried to be as friendly as one could be with meeting the person who was your replacement. In a way it was very awkward to be meeting his fiancé but she turned out to be super nice and I cannot for the life of me understand what she sees in him, but that’s her problem not mine anymore. At least my daughter likes her and she seems like a nice person to me so that’s all that matters to me. Anyway, the drive to the airport wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I made small talk with my ex and his fiancé and before I knew it we were at the airport saying goodbye to them and on our way back home. There were no flight delays this time around, however, security did go through my bag because it was so heavy…well, duh, I was taking back Christmas presents with me. Anyway, we made it through security without problems and we waited for our plane. By the time we got to Indianapolis it was 11pm and we were exhausted. My Uncle Walter, my Dad, and my cousin Phil picked us up and we headed home. We got in about 2 in the morning again. I just couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed.

December 30th

I woke up and wondered downstairs, had coffee in my favorite superman mug, and sat in the recliner that had chopped my cord in half when I saw the mail man walk up the steps and in his hand was a large brown package. I met him at the door and he gave me the mail. The package turned out to be my new cord. Quickly I ripped open the package and pulled out the cord. I rushed over to my back pack and pulled out my laptop. I plugged the cord into the laptop and it fit perfectly, so far so good. I plugged the cord into the wall, held my breath, pressed the power button and heard the wonderful buzz of fans kick on and the Windows logo popped up on the screen. My breath whooshed out of my lungs in relief. Now I could post my other fic. So, I sat in my recliner with my laptop on my lap and went to go post my fic when all of a sudden my computer crashes and the blue screen of death pops up on my screen…oh dear God, now what!? I just closed my laptop cover and put it to the side, sat for a minute and then put on Sponge Bob Square Pants and drank my coffee. I knew what that blue screen meant…it meant that somehow my computer had caught a virus and I was going to have to wipe my hard drive clean and restore it to factor default. WTF! Just my luck, you know, all I wanted to do was post my fic and once again I had to put it off.So, my daughter and my father got up and we made breakfast and I let my laptop slip from my mind. We got a phone call about my Uncle Danny, his health was declining quickly. The doctors thought that he may have contacted one of the viral hepatitis strains. They were going to do a biopsy of his liver and would get the results in a few days. So, my dad, who is my Uncle Danny’s older brother worried about his little brother and I prayed for my Uncle’s speedy recovery. He was going to be fine in my mind. He was too young, he was only 55 years old, so he was young and strong and nothing could hurt one of my Uncles. My dad comes from a family of 15…12 boys and 3 girls. Out of the 15 my dad is number 14; my Uncle Danny was number 15. But my Uncles were like gods to me as a kid and in my mind they are all still young viral men, but that isn’t the case. We’ve already lost a handful of them. So most of the day we spent wondering how my Uncle Danny was doing and my laptop was pushed aside until later that night.

December 31st 2009

Last day of this god forsaken year…last day to this decade, thank God for that, 2009 totally sucked and I am happy to see it gone! So, I get up and start the day with my coffee and I am excited for this year to be over. My mother, my daughter, my father, and I planned to stay in and celebrate the New Year this year with a movie marathon. We were going to watch Star Trek 2009, The Last Star Fighter, and Star Gate…the theme was something with Star in the title. Then the phone call happened. My cousin Darlene called, my other uncle, my Uncle Norman was in the hospital. The doctors thought he had a mini stroke but it turned out to be a small seizure…not sure which one is better but again WTF comes to mind. It’s almost like the powers that be have it out for my family. I soooo didn’t want to have to be the one to tell my dad that another one of his brothers was in the hospital. As soon as I got off the phone with my cousin Darlene my Uncle Danny’s wife Mary call and ended up having a nerves breakdown on the phone with me. It was one of the saddest things I have ever had to experience in my life. She just loved my Uncle so much and my heart broke for her and my cousins. They still had no idea what was causing him to be as sick as he was. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. My uncle shouldn’t have been this sick. My dad was beside himself with worry for not one, but two brothers now. My Uncle Norman is my one of my dad’s older brothers. But it was Uncle Danny that we were all really worried about. We were hoping that he would get better soon, but in my heart…that dreaded fear crept in…I felt that Uncle Danny wasn’t going to get better and regret for not getting to see him while I was up there seized my heart.

Happy New Year!!! January 1, 2010

I woke up this morning to a new day, a new year, but same old problems. The only good thing that happened this day was that my brother Aron called from Afghanistan. He had heard about my uncle being sick and called to get an update on him.It was really good to hear his voice even though it was bad news we were giving him. It’s hard knowing that he’s half way cross the world in harm’s way.

Anyway, what I hadn’t mentioned before was that just before Thanksgiving ‘09 my mother had bought a restaurant...a small diner to be precise, that I had been railroaded into being the waitress in. Oh boy, joy, joy. I was not happy about that at all. I felt as though I were taking a step back in my life rather than a step forward, but my mother really needed me to help her out and so, yes, I’ve gone from substitute teacher to waitress. I still think it should be the other way around, but who am I to argue. LOL Anyway, we took possession of the restaurant as of the 1st and she was egar to get to it and clean it out. (Which it totally needed to be done, IMO) So, the first day of the New Year for me was busting my ass cleaning a restaurant that I honestly wanted nothing to do with. Oh did I mention that it was also 2 degrees outside in the sun and I was the lucky one who drew the short straw to scrape the painted name of the previous restaurant from the extremely large pane windows…yeah, that was soooo not amusing. We had 3 days to get that restaurant into shape before we opened our doors. Linda’s Country Kitchen…or just The Kitchen as we were referring to it needed a lot of matience before it was going to be ready to open on the 4th.

January 2, 2010

Got a phone call from my uncle’s wife Mary. They know what’s wrong with him. The results of the biopsy came back it wasn’t good. He had cancer in his liver. He had an infection in his kidneys and they were shutting down. His health was in a serious tail spin and the doctors didn’t know if they were going to be able to pull him out of it.

Had to spend the day cleaning the restaurant after we got the news. It was a very somber atmosphere.

January 3,2010

Finished getting the restaurant ready for its Grand Opening.

January 4, 2010

Had to be in work by 5am. Got up at 4am to get ready. Spent 8 hours plus on my feet. I was exhausted. Fell asleep as soon as I finished helping my daughter with her homework. That was 7pm.

January 5, 2010

Well, I’ve survived yet another year. Everyone tells me that I am 35 years old. I keep telling everyone that I started aging backwards on my 31st birthday but no one will believe me. When I supposedly turned 31 in my reality I turned 29. When I supposedly turned 32 in my reality I turned 28. So now that I am supposed to be 35 in my reality I am 25. I figure I can start aging forward again once I hit 20…then when I am supposedly 41I can be 21 all over again. Sounds like a GREAT plan to me; I have no idea why on Earth no one seems to like it but me. Oh no…my daughter told EVERYONE that I was 35. And to top it off…I am soooooo sick. I have a fever, chills, sneezing, blocked ears…and my mom won’t let me call in…even though it’s her fault I am sick to begin with. Yeah, if I hadn’t had to scrape the windows of ‘her’ restaurant in 2 degree weather then I probably wouldn’t be so ill on my 25th birthday. But nooo I have to go to work because my mom needs my help. Fine. Happy birthday to me. And thanks to all of you out there for the birthday wishes. I can’t tell you how awesome it was to see that you all sent b-day greetings to me. *HUGS* to all of you! :D

January 6, 2010

My daughter Sarah had an orthodontics appointment today 2:15pm. I ended up letting her stay home from school today because she had a 2 hour delay because of the weather… and my dad was going to have to take her to the restaurant so that I could take her to the ortho appointment. My dad was fine with taking her to the restaurant because he had some last minute things to do at the restaurant before he left for Boston. My uncle had not taken the news of having cancer all that well. His health was declining and he had to be put onto life support machines. It turned out that the cancer had not started in my uncle’s liver but had spread throughout his entire body. The doctors were just trying to make him as comfortable as possible in his final days. He was pretty much comatose at this point. And my dad was beside himself with worry.

January 7th

After being at work from 5am until 4:30pm I had to rush home, grab my daughter’s workout clothes, and rush to the school because we had cheer practice. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I had agreed to be the assistant cheer coach of my daughter’s cheer team. I also should mention that I am soooooo not qualified to be the cheer coach. I can’t stand cheerleaders or their drama. But yet again, I am doing something that I don’t want to do for my daughter. I can’t cheer. I can’t dance. The saying, ‘two left feet’ more than applies to me. I am a klutz. I can’t dance a beat. Anyway, cheer practice went ok once we got the girls to stop talking.

January 8th

Elvis’s birthday. Work, work, work. Nothing exciting today.

January 9th

My dad left for Boston today for two weeks to visit my uncle who is doing horrible. He reached Boston just in time. My Uncle’s doctors want to take him off his life support machines but are waiting for my dad to get to say good bye. My heart is breaking for so many today. God Sped Uncle Danny may the angels make your journey to heaven painless.

January 10th

It’s a sad, sad day for the King family.

This is going to be the last entry. I can’t do this anymore. My uncle died today… 1/10/10 @ 1:10am. How’s that for Karma. Bye Uncle Danny I love you.

So there’s my life for the last few weeks, I hope that you all can understand why I have been MIA. I still have a few unrelenting weeks ahead of me so please be patient. I will be back probably by the end of February or the beginning of March. I miss you all and I really miss my Chlollie but RL really, really sucks for me right now.